Page 58 of Primal Bonds

Now Adric realized his cousin must have struck a deal with Sindre. He narrowed his eyes at Nika. “Where is Corban now?”

“He ran away.”

“Yes, but where is he staying?”

“Nowhere. We flew in last week. By now he’s already gone.” Nika surfaced enough to shoot Adric a triumphant look. “You must travel to Iceland to find him.”

Adric swore under his breath.

“Sounds like him,” Marjani muttered. “Strike and run.”

Adric shook his head. He tried to get more information from Nika, but she didn’t know much else. She did tell him which flight they’d been booked on, but Corban wasn’t stupid—he’d take another flight under a different name. Adric would send a man to check the airport anyway, but he knew it was a waste of time.

Like hell, he’d chase Corban to Iceland. That was exactly what his cousin wanted. Adric’s fingers tightened on his quartz.

Nika twitched and he focused on her again. He was going to have to bring her out of the trance soon. His own energy was being drained at a rapid rate, and if he pushed Nika any harder, he risked damaging her brain.

But first, he had another question. “What about the night fae? Why are they working with Corban?”

“The night fae?” But her eyes flickered.

“Tell me.” He threw everything he had into extracting that last bit of information, but he’d lost her. She’d thrown up a barrier he couldn’t penetrate.

“I do not know.”

It might be the truth—and it might not. Because “I don’t know” could mean anything, or nothing.

He ground his teeth. “Then who?”

But she’d regained control of her mind. She closed her mouth and refused to say anything else.

The last thing he did was erase Nika’s memory of how he’d hypnotized her. She’d remember that she’d given him information, but blame herself for being weak.

Sometimes Adric was an even bigger bastard than his cousin.

Nika’s breath sighed out. Her chin fell to her chest as she slid into a deep sleep. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling off the chair.

“Let’s get out of here,” he told Marjani.

“What about her?” She jerked her chin at the sleeping woman. “You’re not bringing her back to Baltimore, are you?”

“No fucking way.” Nika was hiding something, and he was damned if he’d bring her into their den, or anywhere near the clan, for that matter. “We’ll leave her on Rock Run territory. Let them deal with her.”

Dion wouldn’t hurt Nika for no reason, but he would keep her captive while he tried to figure out why Adric had left her on his land.

Marjani’s brows shot up. “I like it. And her quartz?”

“You hang onto it.” Adric handed the pendant to Marjani and lifted Nika in his arms. His scent would be all over her. The river fada would know he’d left her there deliberately—what they wouldn’t know was why.

They’d driven up in one of the clan’s jeeps. After he laid Nika on the back seat, his sister took the wheel while he put in a call to a high-ranking sentry, directing the woman to send some men to the Baltimore airport on the off-chance they could catch Corban.

Next he contacted Zuri and brought him up to date. “Corban still has friends in the clan,” he said. “If he’s hurt bad enough, there’s a chance he’ll go to ground in one of their dens. Start with his old den. I want someone we trust to visit every single one of the bastard’s friends. He’s gone too far this time. He knows damn well an attack on Jace is an attack on me. I want him, Zuri.”

“If he’s in Baltimore,” the lieutenant replied grimly, “I’ll find him.”

His last call was to Bryah, a tough young sentry itching to prove herself. He’d left her and another sentry searching Grace Harbor for Corban while he was occupied with Nika and Jace. “Find anything?” he asked.

“Only some traces of blood, sir. We followed his scent as far as the bay and then we lost him. We ran along the shore for half a mile in each direction but there was no trace of him. We crisscrossed the town after that. I can tell you he was up here for a day, maybe two. He could be hiding somewhere, but my guess is he left by boat.”

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